Conversations API¶

Direct messages¶

The conversations_open method opens either a 1:1 direct message with a single user or a a multi-person direct message, depending on the number of users supplied to the users parameter.

For public or private channels, use the ``conversations_create`` method.

Provide a users parameter as an array with 1 to 8 user IDs to open or resume a conversation. Providing only 1 ID will create a direct message. Providing more will create a new multi-party DM or resume an existing conversation.

Subsequent calls to conversations_open with the same set of users will return the already existing conversation.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_open(users=["W123456789", "U987654321"])

See conversations.open additional info.

Creating channels¶

Creates a new channel, either public or private. The name parameter is required, may contain numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores, and must contain fewer than 21 characters. To make the channel private, set the option is_private parameter to True.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_create(
  name="my-private-channel",
  is_private = True
)

See conversations.create additional info.

Getting more information¶

To retrieve a set of metadata about a channel (public, private, DM, or multi-party DM), use conversations_info. The channel parameter is required and must be a valid channel ID. The optional include_locale boolean parameter will return locale data, which may be useful if you wish to return localized responses. The include_num_members boolean parameter will return the number of people in a channel.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_info(
  channel="C031415926"
  include_num_members = True
)

See conversations.info for more info.

Listing conversations¶

To get a list of all the conversations in a workspace, use conversations_list. By default, only public conversations are returned; use the types parameter specify which types of conversations you’re interested in (Note: types is a string of comma-separated values)

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_list()

Use the types parameter to request additional channels, including public_channel, private_channel, mpim, and im. This parameter is a string of comma-separated values.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_list(
  types="public_channels, private_channels"
)

See conversations.list for more info.

Leaving a conversation¶

To leave a conversation, use conversations_leave with the required channel param containing the ID of the channel to leave.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_leave(channel="C27182818")

See conversations.leave for more info.

Getting members¶

To get a list of the members of a conversation, use conversations_members with the required channel parameter.

import slack

slack_token = os.environ["SLACK_API_TOKEN"]
client = slack.WebClient(slack_token)

client.conversations_members(channel="C16180339")

See conversations.members for more info.